Tide of college football concussion lawsuits begins
By RALPH D. RUSSO (AP College Football Writer)
7 hours ago
AP - Sports


NEW YORK (AP) -- As many as 50 class-action lawsuits contesting how the NCAA, major college football conferences or individual schools handled concussions will be filed in the coming months by former players seeking damages for lingering brain injuries and ailments.

The first batch of six lawsuits was filed Tuesday and Chicago-based attorney Jay Edelson said the next wave will likely be filed within the next two weeks.

''The reason that we're bringing so many of them instead of one giant one is because the NCAA successfully argued to the court that we shouldn't be allowed to bring just one big case,'' Edelson said Wednesday. ''Because of that we have to file suit on a per school basis.''

The first six lawsuits were filed by players who played for Georgia, Auburn, Vanderbilt, Oregon, Utah and Penn State. The former football players claim problems ranging from loss of memory and cognitive function to dementia.

The lawsuits come as a settlement in another concussion case against the NCAA is awaiting approval by a federal judge.

Former Eastern Illinois football player Adrian Arrington in 2011 sued the NCAA over its handling of concussions and it resulted in a proposed settlement that provided no damages to be paid to players for injuries.

The proposal is still awaiting final approval from a federal judge in Illinois. It calls for the NCAA to create a $70 million fund for testing and monitoring former athletes for brain trauma and another $5 million for concussion research.

Arrington opposed the settlement, though other plaintiffs signed off, and Edelson has fought against it.

''These cases appear to be yet another attempt by Mr. Edelson to interfere with efforts to move forward a settlement in the Arrington case. The lawsuits reflect copycat activity and just because they keep repeating the same arguments does not make them true,'' said Donald Remy, NCAA chief legal officer.

In the Vanderbilt and Penn State cases, the schools are named directly named in the lawsuits. In the other cases, state laws protect the universities from being sued. The conferences named in the lawsuits are the Southeastern Conference, the Big Ten, the Pac-12 and the Western Athletic Conference, where Utah competed while plaintiff and former defensive lineman Richard Seals played for the Utes.

''In terms of naming the schools individually, whether that's an easier path or not remains to be seen,'' Edelson said. ''We think that when we go before a jury the stories are going to be most impactful when we talk about in context of the school. The NCAA has a lot of liability, too, but the schools were the ones that had the most direct relationship with the student-athletes.''

The Penn State case was brought by three former players: Robert Samuels (1988-89), James Boyd (1997-2001) and Eric Ravotti (1990-94), but Boyd and Ravotti have since said they want their names to be removed from the lawsuits because they were misled about the nature of the cases by attorneys.

''Because of attorney-client privilege we can't go through the detail of all the communication that our team had with these two individuals but of course we have no interest in having someone lead such an important fight if their heart isn't in it,'' Edelson said. ''That's not good for us it's not good for the class. It's not good for them.''

I've had a broken nose, torn ACL and MCL, strained PCL, torn meniscus, hairline foot fracture (turf toe), multiple broken toes, hairline wrist fracture, two concussions (an elbow to the ridge of my nose and my head driven into a post by a hard shot)

I have collected all these injuries over 15 years playing organized soccer and 2 years of rugby. All contact sports are filled with injuries. None more than soccer. But I would love my two sons to follow in my foot steps.

I am suing my dad for making me see stars...

(05-19-2016 10:24 AM)panama Wrote:  I am suing my dad for making me see stars...

Some stars are better to see than others...

(05-24-2016 10:44 AM)Maize Wrote:  Related...Bubba Smith CTE findings...

The list of deceased NFL players officially diagnosed with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy has now reached 90.

Via Ken Belson of the New York Times, the late Bubba Smith has been diagnosed with CTE. Smith, who died in 2011, spent nine years in the NFL. The first overall pick in the 1967 draft, Smith played for the Colts, Raiders, and Oilers.

Smith, who became an actor after his football career ended, had Stage 3 CTE, according to the findings of researchers. The scale consists of four total stages.

Few are surprised to learn that players from the years before the NFL began to regard head trauma seriously had CTE. Much still remains unknown about the condition, however, including the specific symptoms that it causes.

Reports of deceased players having CTE will continue to emerge periodically. The real challenge for the NFL will arise if/when a test for CTE in living patients is developed — and if it detects the disease on a sufficiently widespread basis to impact the supply of willing participants in professional football.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/201...h-had-cte/

Would you want your own sons to play beyond high school, and if so, does the level of play matter to you as far as their lifelong safety? Is my feeling correct that sports like baseball, soccer, tennis, swimming, golf, are safer than football these days?

I would steer them toward baseball, tennis or golf. Long-term Basketball play is tough on the joints too, back and knees. It takes one severe knee or back injury to have lifelong struggle with arthritis even after surgery.



Is $1,500 per helmet worth spending to help provide additional safety per each player, or is it wasted money that could better be used elsewhere in a football program?

Absolutely

(05-19-2016 09:12 AM)goliath74 Wrote:  I've had a broken nose, torn ACL and MCL, strained PCL, torn meniscus, hairline foot fracture (turf toe), multiple broken toes, hairline wrist fracture, two concussions (an elbow to the ridge of my nose and my head driven into a post by a hard shot)

I have collected all these injuries over 15 years playing organized soccer and 2 years of rugby. All contact sports are filled with injuries. None more than soccer. But I would love my two sons to follow in my foot steps.

Did you ever play football? I would compare soccer to basketball as far as injuries are concerned

Football

Basketball, soccer

Baseball

Tennis

Golf

(05-24-2016 02:13 PM)Dawgxas Wrote:  

(05-19-2016 09:12 AM)goliath74 Wrote:  I've had a broken nose, torn ACL and MCL, strained PCL, torn meniscus, hairline foot fracture (turf toe), multiple broken toes, hairline wrist fracture, two concussions (an elbow to the ridge of my nose and my head driven into a post by a hard shot)

I have collected all these injuries over 15 years playing organized soccer and 2 years of rugby. All contact sports are filled with injuries. None more than soccer. But I would love my two sons to follow in my foot steps.

Did you ever play football? I would compare soccer to basketball as far as injuries are concerned

Football

Basketball, soccer

Baseball

Tennis

Golf

I think Tennis is just as bad as basketball on your joints IMO.

Even as a kid, it was common sense that football was a violent game and that you could get seriously hurt. Obviously I wasn't familiar with the term CTE, but the idea of there being possible brain damage was simple. So I'm getting really sick of hearing about this. Try and make the game reasonably safe. Then it's up to the individual or parent to let their kid play. If you don't know the dangers, then maybe you already have a form of brain damage. I would love if the sports world could move on from this stupid "controversy". I played football, never had a concussion, and wouldn't blame someone else if I did.
Having new helmets seems like a logical move. But the game shouldn't be changed too much. Let the gladiators who want to play, play. The rest can either choose to support it or find something else to do.

My son played DIII football for about 30 days. He suffered what he believed to be a concussion in practice one day. He didn't report it to the coach or trainers but he did decide shortly after that since he wasn't planning on making a living playing football that he would just give it up.

(05-24-2016 03:07 PM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(05-24-2016 02:13 PM)Dawgxas Wrote:  

(05-19-2016 09:12 AM)goliath74 Wrote:  I've had a broken nose, torn ACL and MCL, strained PCL, torn meniscus, hairline foot fracture (turf toe), multiple broken toes, hairline wrist fracture, two concussions (an elbow to the ridge of my nose and my head driven into a post by a hard shot)

I have collected all these injuries over 15 years playing organized soccer and 2 years of rugby. All contact sports are filled with injuries. None more than soccer. But I would love my two sons to follow in my foot steps.

Did you ever play football? I would compare soccer to basketball as far as injuries are concerned

Football

Basketball, soccer

Baseball

Tennis

Golf

I think Tennis is just as bad as basketball on your joints IMO.

Played both and basketball has the contact factor to the joints -knee to knee, body to knee, foot on ankle, push in the back mid-air . Hyperextension of the knee is more likely in basketball. Tennis does require lateral movement, stop and go and jumping. But many of us "elders" can still play tennis basketball not so much.